


Shouldn't Come Back

by unirulert2



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Humor if you squint, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Past Domestic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 05:03:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14229870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unirulert2/pseuds/unirulert2
Summary: Tina is having a hard time these days, and Mike is really starting to worry.What is it that's bothering Tina?(Or when you just don't mess with New Direction's favorite Asian Fusion)





	Shouldn't Come Back

_Shake it out, shake it out,_   
_Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa_   
_Shake it out, shake it out,_   
_Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa_   
_And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back_   
_So shake him off, oh whoa_

* * *

“Coach Beiste?” A soft, vulnerable voice calling her name made Shannon snap out of her trance and stare back at Tina, who was standing in her office’s doorway. Her visit was unexpected, leaving Shannon to wonder if something had happened between the boys, _again_.

“Yes? Can I help you pumpkin?” Tina only nodded, and so Shannon gestured towards the vacant chair in front of her desk. Tina sat without any protest.

 

“Is it the boys, kid? Cause if it is-“ Tina shook her head in negative.

“No… No, it’s not the boys, Coach. It’s just-“ Hesitation in Tina’s voice was apparent, so Shannon, as a responsible and thoughtful adult, did the most logical thing to do; waiting for her to respond.

 

After what seemed like full-five minutes of self-debating, Tina looked up.

“Coach, I know we sang that song for you, but it just didn’t feel enough so-“

“Pumpkin, it’s okay. I get it, you girls didn’t know. It’s not your fault or anything, Tina. And as I said, I’m going to leave Cooter. He’s not worth it. You girls made me see the light.” Shannon reassured her, despite her original intentions of not leaving Cooter. Tina wasn’t convinced.

 

“No, you’re not.” But her blunt words were a bit surprising.

“Coach, I know how you feel. And I think we both know that you won’t leave him, no matter what stupid songs we sing for you.” Shannon was at lost for words.

 

“What do you mean by you _know_ how I feel?”

* * *

Puck swears, one more fucking time Hudson leaves his _damn jersey_ in the locker room and convinces Puck to go back in there to fetch it with him, he’s going to glue that shit to Hudson’s puffy pyramid nipples( _or maybe even Berry_ ). But when there’s a visitor in Coach Beiste’s office, _a long-haired girl at that_ , after school hours, he can’t help himself but peek in.

_“What do you mean you know how I feel?”_ Coach’s scandalous voice piques his interest even farther.

 

 _“Coach, if my mom were to ever leave my dad, she would’ve done it the first time he hit her. I get it, you love him. And he’s actually a great guy who just had a very stressful day at work and let the alcohol get the better of him. I know the excuses. The usuals.”_ He feels Finn’s hand nudging his back, and he almost tripped and knocked out a bench, so he glares at him to shut the hell up and leans closer to the conversation.

_“-and this is the number of my therapist, she’ll be a lot of help. Until and after you finally, do leave him.”_ Damn it, he lost track because of Finn.

 

They hurriedly made it out of the locker room, not wanting to get caught and face the wrath of either female. After almost running their way out to the parking lot, Finn was out of breath(so much for a quarterback) when he shot Puck an accusing look.

 

“Dude, what the hell?” Puck ignored his fellow teammate and focused his attention on-

 

“There he is.” Of course, if Tina were to stay after school hours, so would her ever so loyal boyfriend, waiting to give her ride back home. Puck approached Mike, who was standing outside of his Honda, with his headphones in and watching a video of some random choreography. He tapped Mike’s shoulders.

 

“Hey, waiting for your girl?” Mike grinned, taking his headphones off.

“Yeah, she said she wanted to go talk to Coach Beiste.”

“About that… Dude, we um.. couldn’t help but overhear-“

“No, not we. Only you, man. I didn’t hear a thing.” Came Hudson’s stupid line of defense. Puck rolled his eyes.

“ _WE_ think that she might be suffering from, you know….” Mike’s eyebrow hitched up to his forehead.

“Domestic violence.” Finn finished it for Puck.

“Dude! You said you fucking didn’t hear anything!” Finn only shrugged.

“What?” Mike seems genuinely confused.

“It’s just, we thought that maybe you could try and talk to her. In case she needs help.”

 

Mike stares at them incredulously. “You really need to respect people’s privacy, guys.”

 

“We’re just worried about her! I mean, aren’t _you_?” Puck argues, and he can tell with the way Mike’s forehead crinkles with worry etched on his features, he is indeed very worried.

 

“Of course I am. But I don’t know how to approach her-“

“Approach who? Hopefully not some other girlfriends that I don’t know about?” Came from behind their backs and Puck swears Finn jumped at least an inch off the ground. Mike quickly disguises his face of concern and slips on a genuine smile.

“Hey, babe. You know I only love you. How’d your conversation go?”

 

“Nice save. It went fine, uh, why does Finn look like he’s about to either pass out or piss in his pants?”

 

“Cause he’s a pussy.” Came Puck’s reply. They all frowned at him.

“Inappropriate, dude.” Mike chastised.

 

“You want to head back home, Tee?” Mike gives Tina a hug, and it honestly is so loving and gentle and caring and Puck almost threw up his last lunch.

 

Tina only nodded into Mike’s chest, letting him lead her to the passenger’s seat and fasten her seatbelt. After closing the door and making sure Tina couldn’t listen, Mike turns to Puck.

 

“I’ll see what I can do.” And they drove off.

 

 

“ _Shit_ , I left my jersey again.”

* * *

_There’s no noise._

_Her back is to the door, and she knows for a fact what’s happening outside this door._

_Suddenly the door opens, making her stumble backward. A callous hand grabs her hair and drag her out to the living room. She’s kicking her offender the best she can, but her short, chubby legs fail to make a real impact. The sofa is pushed to the side, and glass is shattered on the floor, along with a variety of objects lying on the floor where they do not belong. She is thrown into the debris of the once beautiful crystal glass her mother prided of and she feels the pieces digging into her young, delicate skin._

_She sees her mother, all bloodied and bruised herself, clinging to the leg of her father, desperately trying to hold him back all to no avail. He only shrugs off her mother and proceeds to kick her in the gut. She gasps as she starts to have trouble breathing. The contact of her father’s following violence goes numb as she slowly fades out of the world._

_The scene changed._

_She’s now standing in front of the bathroom. It’s locked, so she fetches the keys laying beneath her mattress(because she doesn’t want her father to be able to unlock the door when she’s hiding) and fumbles with the keys before a click- indicates the now opened door. As she stares forward, she sees legs dangling in front of her._

_Her lowered height, therefore limited eyesight forces her to look up only to see her mother’s pained, yet smiling eyes._

 

 

Tina gasps, and now she’s awake. It’s still a bit dark, though a distant chirping of the birds means that the brightness will soon rise above the darkness swallowing her room. She fumbles as she checks the bedside table, and the red blinking numbers tell her that it’s only an hour before her alarm goes off. Tina wipes the sweat from her forehead and sighs to herself.

  

It was going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

After yesterday’s encounter with Puck and Finn, Mike wants to talk to Tina. But today is Thursday of all days, and it’s the only day that Tina doesn’t share any honor classes with him. So he waits until lunch, but then he gets a text from Tina saying that she’s going to work on the costumes during her spare time. He asks if she wants him to buy her some food from the cafeteria, but she declines the offer texting back that she packed a sandwich from home and he doesn’t need to mind her. But that doesn’t stop Mike from going on a search for Tina in their costumes committee classroom and it’s completely empty.

 

So he waits until they get home.

 

He’s working on his History research paper due next week, and Tina’s working her sewing machine for the sample of their costumes.

 

That is until he hears a small gasp.

He is immediately by her side, and Tina is delicately holding her pricked finger against her chest, inspecting the crimson red blood dotting her finger. He wordlessly fetches the first-aid kit beside her sewing machine and tends to her injury. After wrapping it up and kissing it better, he looks up to Tina’s blank, seemingly emotionless eyes. She’s been staring out of space a lot and was often unresponsive lately, and he finally had enough of it.

 

 

“Okay, that’s it. Tee, what’s up?” Tina flinches as if his voice startled her.

 

“Babe?” Tina finally meets his stare, and there are unshed tears in her eyes that make his heart quench. He pulls her into his embrace, and Tina breathes in his scent, which seems to calm her down. She gently pries herself out of his hold.

 

“I- Mike, you have to promise me first that you won’t tell _anyone_ about the things I tell you. Not your friends, not your sister, and not even our parents.” There’s a steel in her voice that makes Mike wonder, but he only nods in response.

 

“It’s my…. dad.” Mike’s forehead scrunches in confusion.

“But.. you guys were fine just this morning when I picked you up.” Tina only smiles softly.

“Not my dad- _dad_ , my um… biological father.”

 

“Oh?” He replies dumbly. He knew the fact that Tina was adopted for a long time-ever since he heard his parents discussing that particular gossip at the Asian community meeting at the age of six-along with her sister Gina. But he didn’t know that she still cared, or knew anything about her biological parents.

 

 

“Umm… Here, let me tell you a story.”

 

“When I was four years old, I was sent to ‘a care system’ because there was no one left to take care of me.”

“But you just said that-“

 

“My mom committed suicide, and my dad got locked up in jail for domestic battery, child abuse, and…. attempted murder.” Mike’s eyes grew wide.

  

“And so I was in the system for a year before my adoptive parents decided that they wanted to adopt another child for my sister’s… you know, company. They searched for a girl back in South Korea, because that’s where Gina came from. When they heard about me from the agency, they thought that it was a destiny that I shared their last name and was in need of a desperate help. They hesitated because I was too old to be adopted to a foreign country, but eventually thought that a change of an environment would do me some good. And it did, I guess.” Mike was silent through it all, only humming a response here and there and took Tina’s hands into his own to give her support.

 

“Last I heard of my biological father, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.”

“ _Only ten_?” Mike asks furious and Tina meekly nods.

“Laws are funny back in South Korea.”

“Fucking laws.” She chuckles at his swearing.

 

“But I still don’t get what it has anything to do with your…”

“Strange behavior?” Tina offers and Mike only smiles sheepishly.

 

“He’s been trying to talk to me.” Tina admits and Mike squeezes their joint hands in automatic response.

“And I’m scared, but I don’t want to tell mom and dad because they’ll get upset-”

 

 

“Oh my god, you’re not pregnant are you?” They both looked behind their backs, startled.

 

“Gina, god, you scared us.” Gina only quirked an eyebrow.

“And _no, I’m not pregnant_.” Tina huffed.

“Oh my god, are you a virgin?” Gina asks horrified. Mike blushes deeply.

“Um, are you for real? Are you actually asking your _baby sister_ that?”

“You’re not answering.”  
“That’s the point of changing the subject, Gina.”

“Don’t sass me.” A distant sound of key clinking against the locks is heard by all three of them.

 

_We’re here guys! Does anyone want Chinese for dinner?_

 

“We’re not done talking.” Gina warns.

* * *

After their talk, Tina seemed to be less tense and more relaxed than usual and that made Mike relieve his original concerns for his girlfriend. They had their normal routine slipping back to its pace, him escorting her to every possible class, not without small kisses here and there, and eating lunch together with their friends during lunch period. Now they only had to sit through glee before their weekend started and Mike couldn’t be any happier.

 

Tina texted him that she would get to glee with Blaine to spare him an unnecessary trip all the way across the school just to go all the way back to where he came from. After some fierce arguments and an obvious text butt-in by Blaine to assure him nothing else, Mike found himself walking to the choir room alone.

 

The choir room was almost full already-minus Tina and Blaine, who had AP Lit. all the way across the school-but there was a misplaced stranger pacing around the room that made Mike stop. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Finn fidgeting awkwardly in his seat and Santana sizing her possible victim up. Puck was sitting in the corner, looking somewhat bored like always.

 “Michael, this man here claims that he’s umm.. what was it again? Father of someone named _Si-eun_?” The Korean name foreign on her tongue, Rachel winced slightly. Other members of New Directions were leaning in with obvious curiosity.

 

“Yeah, whoever _that_ is.” Kurt muttered. The familiar clicking of Tina’s favorite combat boots, along with Blaine’s enthusiastic whispered voices, made him snap out of his surprised daze. 

 

“You’re not supposed to be here.” A distant _you know him?_ is heard, but purposefully ignored by both men. The man, now staring intently at him, spoke up in broken English.

“I want to see Si-eun Chang.” Mike, now very aware of Tina who just stopped before his back, growled at the Asian. Tina pushed his back slightly, probably wondering why he wouldn’t enter the choir room.

 

“No, you’re not.” Tina nudged him once again, and he could hear Blaine asking what was happening.

“Mike, honey, move. You’re blocking the whole entrance, babe.” Tina managed to slip through his human barricade, scolding him as she passed by.

 

 

Mike sucked in his breath.

 

 

“시은아..”( _Si-eun ah.._ ) Tina stopped dead in her tracks.

“ _Wait, hold on._ So _Tina_ is Si-eun?” Quinn questioned to no one in particular. _Tina?_ Puck leaned in, no longer bored.

 

 

There is a beat of an awkward pause before Tina sucks in her breath.

 

“아…빠?”( _Dad..?_ ) The word is so foreign to her as it slips through her lips.

“You’re not supposed to be here.” Tina repeated his very own words. The man did not seem to notice.

 

“딸.. 한 번만 봐줘라. 그냥 실수했던 거야, 알잖아. 네 엄마가 그렇게 간 게 어떻게 내 탓이니? 시은아, 아빠 이젠 술도 끊었어. 이젠 안 때려. 아빠랑 한국 가자, 응?”( _Honey, please do forgive me, it was just a mistake, and you know that. How is it my fault that your mother passed away the way she did? Si-eun, I’m sober now. I won’t hit you anymore. Let’s go back to Korea, together, huh?_ ) Tina’s cheeks suddenly flushed red with anger.

 

“How _dare_ you speak of mom like that, _HOW DARE YOU!_ She died because of you. YOU! You killed her, _you_ drove her to death! You dare have the audacity to tell me that you want me back to Korea? _With YOU?_ ” Mike tensed up at her words. It was killing him to only able to understand one side of the conversation.

 

 

“술 끊었다니까? 시은아, 이젠 안 때릴게.”( _I’m sober now, Si-eun, I won’t hit you anymore._ )

 

“Yeah, like you promised mom after _every single night_ of your violence! Like when you promised _me_ that you’ll never lay a hand on me again! Nice try. But it’s not happening. I’m fucking _sick_ of you making empty promises that you and I both know that you cannot keep. Do you _know_ how it felt like to find your own _mother_ hanging down the ceiling, half smiling because she finally escaped from _you_? I was _four!_ ”

 

Mike heard the gasps leaving their friends’ throats and couldn’t help but groan. But Tina didn’t seem to have heard, or care. He knew that he should probably step in now, the distance between the once father and daughter getting too close, with Tina dangerously edging towards her biological parent.

 

 

“You always say that, all of those morons out there! I won’t ever drink again, it was the stress.. Well newsflash, father! You don’t go beating up your family because you were stressed from work! I’m perfectly fine here. I have a loving family and friends who are willing to look out for me when someone poses a threat to me. You’re nothing but a _fucking murderer_.”

 

 _SLAP-_ It was all in a slow motion. Mike saw Tina on the floor, defenseless, as she was sprawled all over the place. His eyes soon saw fire and he all but ran towards her offender, proceeding to throw a nicely placed punch to the face. A distant _crack-_ is very audible and Mike smirks as blood splutters across the man’s face. But then, someone body slams into him and he is now blocked by the enormous quarterback.

 

“Let go of me, Finn! I’m gonna _kill_ him, how dare he hits Tina like that-“

“Dude, calm down. You going all karate on him won’t help the matter.” Mike sees the other man held firmly down by Puck and Sam, and can’t help but smirk as he witnesses Puck discreetly throwing another punch to his stomach.

 

“Karate’s Japanese and Mike’s Chinese as much as I’m Korean, Finn, I know it’s confusing, but they’re all different countries. We’ve been over this. If you want to make inappropriate Asian jokes, at least study a little.”

Mike hears his girlfriend’s voice and immediately frees himself from Finn to rush over to her. She’s holding her face, and Mike gently peels her palm to see a conspicuous red bruise standing out of her otherwise pale, smooth skin. His body shakes with anger.

 

“What’s going on in here?” New Directions all freeze as they hear Coach Sylvester’s voice over the quiet clatter. Mr. Schue, Coach Beiste, and Coach Sylvester are all standing in the doorway of the choir room, all wearing incredulous looks on their faces (well, fury on the latter).

 

“Need I repeat myself, Hobbit? What in the Hell is going on here?” Rachel winces as the question directs to her.

 

“This is Tina’s father and he wants her to go back to Korea with him.” Finn manages, but then soon receives some dirty looks thrown his way.

 “What? It’s right!” Kurt slaps his head.

 

“Tina? Tina Cohen-Chang? Asian number one?” Coach Sylvester asks. Mike feels her shaking in his arms.

 

“It’s not her fault. That man is her _biological_ parent, and he crossed school property without an authorized pass. Apparently, that bastard of a home wrecker wanted to snatch Tina back to Korea.” Mike jumps to her defense. _Yeah, soooo much for school security._ He hears Quinn in the background. When hushed, she replies with, _What? What if he had a gun, for God’s sake?_

 

Coach Beiste raises an eyebrow at his usage of inappropriate word choices. But he couldn’t care less.

 

“Your _biological_ father, Tina?” Coach Beiste’s face turns sour, and Mike wonders how much does she actually _knows_.

 

“Well, _biological father_ or not, we have to ask you to leave, sir. You do not carry an authorized pass indeed, and looking at this scene in front of me, I’m having a hard time trying not to either punch you in the face or bury you six feet under the ground while _alive_.” Coach Sylvester threatens the man and nods to Puck.

 

Puck and Sam drag the man out of the choir room.

 

As the man leaves, Coach Beiste turns to Tina.

“You alright there, honey?” Tina merely nods, but Mike can see a nasty bruise forming and winces instead.

 

“Maybe you could head home Tina. Mike?” Mike understands Mr. Schue’s unspoken words and he picks her up in a bridal way. Tina doesn’t protest.

* * *

Few hours of cuddling in her bed later, Mike is insisted upon her parents to have dinner with them.

 

“We already knew you’d be here, Mike, so we bought extras anyway. We can’t let them go to waste, now can we?” After that, he weakly nods and takes his seat.

 

After a few minutes of slightly awkward, yet comfortable minutes of silent eating later, Tina and Mike are startled by a sudden voice.

 

“So, Tina, I heard about the school. Honey, why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Tina gulps and Mike reaches underneath the table to squeeze her hand.

“I- I didn’t want to upset you guys. I swear, I don’t want to go back to Korea, and I love you guys so much and please don’t make me go back, mom.” Tears escape her eyes and Mike feels both intruding and upset at her tears. _That bastard._

 

“Sweetie, we would never dream of doing that, we love you too much.” Her parents reach across the table to hold her hand (the one over the table).

“Don’t worry, he won’t bother you again, Tina. We’ve made sure of that.”

 

 

“So _that_ was what all of that serious talk was about?” Tina nods through her tears. Gina looks visibly relieved at that.

 

 

“So you’re not a virgin?”

“ _Gina!_ ”

* * *

Puck was strumming his guitar mindlessly when his Asian Fusion came strolling in hand by hand (ask and he’ll deny it and set fire to your house, but he thinks they’re kinda cute). Mike leads Tina to their usual seats and Puck sees Mike patiently whispering into her ears. By the way she giggles, Puck figures that he does not indeed want to know its contents.

 

When Mr. Schue comes in and asks for any volunteers, Tina surprises them all with her hand held up. She’s a great singer, he guarantees that, but she always seemed fine without the need to belt out notes and grab attention every chance she’s got, so yeah, he is a bit surprised too.

 

“So.. I know that my… _biological_ father caused some dramas in here last week.” The words that roll off her tongue carries venom. Puck throws a sideways glance to where Mike is sitting, void of his usual companion, and smiling, _for her_ , and Puck wonders if that is what _true love_ looks like. ‘Cause if it isn’t, true love doesn’t seem to exist in this hellhole called reality and that would very, very sad.

 

“When I.. first heard from him, I’ve got to admit, I thought of going to Korea, if only for a little while.”

Another glance tells him that Mike indeed was not informed of this thought beforehand.

 

 

As if to soothe her frowning friends but mostly her boyfriend, Tina continues.

 

“Not for anything permanent, but I do want to visit my mom’s, well, graveyard so yeah. I guess it was mom that made me want to go back to Korea all along. I didn’t get to say goodbye, you know.” Tina pauses for a second before continuing. There is a glint of tears peeking through her lashes.

 

“But all that, um.. enlightening conversation with my father, as well as my real family,” Tina is looking straight through every one of the New Directioners, making sure to linger a bit longer on Mike, “made me realize that I truly belong here. With my real family.” There are collective hums to concede to her sentiment.

 

“This song I’m going to sing, also made me see the light about the truth of all those lies that my father fed me when I was young. That I actually do deserve happiness, and true love.”

Puck sniffs, and curses under his breath, blaming the damn dusty furniture they’ve never gotten to actually dusting them.

 

 

 _See you calling again_  
I don't wanna pick up, no oh  
I've been laying in bed  
Probably thinking too much, oh oh  
Sorry I'm not sorry for the times  
I don't reply, you know the reason why

 _Maybe you shouldn't come back_  
Maybe you shouldn't come back to me  
Tired of being so sad, tired of getting so mad, baby  
Stop right now, you'll only let me down, oh oh  
Maybe you shouldn't come back  
Maybe you shouldn't come back to me

_Trying not to forget, should be easier than this oh oh_  
And all the birthdays you've missed  
I was only a kid oh oh  
Sorry I'm not sorry for the times  
I don't reply, you know the reason why

 _Maybe you shouldn't come back_  
Maybe you shouldn't come back to me  
Tired of being so sad, tired of getting so mad, baby  
Stop right now, you'll only let me down, oh oh  
Maybe you shouldn't come back  
Maybe you shouldn't come back to me  
To me

_Sorry I'm not sorry for the times_

_Maybe you shouldn't come back_  
Maybe you shouldn't come back to me  
Tired of being so sad, tired of getting so mad, baby  
Stop right now, you'll only let me down, oh oh  
Maybe you shouldn't come back  
Maybe you shouldn't come back to me  
Baby you shouldn't come back to me

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know what I tried to actually achieve through this, but when I first found out that Jenna Ushkowitz was adopted from Korea, and that Tina was also adopted, I just wanted to make a story with my native language in it. I have no idea why that thought turned out to this, but well, my imagination tends to go overdrive, so apologies.  
> Well, just so you know, South Korea does own the sour title of being the top country to "export" adoptees. (I have no idea why I wrote this)
> 
> Your reviews and kudos will be greatly appreciated.(I have another one, a longer one, sitting in the back of my computer files, waiting to make its debut-I will upload when I have at least one review, and that's not counting my twins, so long shot ;) )


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